Review Details

RT81 Elite High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable

Product Rating:

Product Review (submitted on July 7, 2020):

I had previously listened to this unit at my son's home and was very impressed. When my Pioneer PL600 packed it in, I elected to look at Fluance. The RT81T is a good solid unit and the AV stylus is satisfactory for my needs. I did find that once I started to play older vinyls on the RT81T, I was hearing tiny nicks much more obviously in between song tracks, so I guess that's a good thing (although now it frustrates me). I wanted an internal pre-amp so went with the 81. It tracks very well - no issues there and the sound reproduction is excellent. The auto off is a good feature and works very well so far. The only negative I have to relay is that the legs DO NOT have leveling capabilities. When I purchased this unit on June 20, 2020 there was nothing in the technical literature about the legs being static. To note there was nothing, zero, nill on the Fluance website in any article or posting that referenced turntable leveling "period". I sent an email in on June 26th and then called support on July 2nd after no response. The support group told me the legs do level and they are turnable (not). When they researched further, support realized that a NEW notice had been added to the website on June 30 regarding TT leveling. So in all the years they have been selling Fluance TTs noone ever thought of adding in leveling instructions (you would think that would be important). The notice now states that the RT80/81 series does not have leveling legs, while RT82 and above does. A good leveling pad costs $70 so if I returned the 81 for an 82 with leveling legs, I'd pay an extra $50 for the upgrade and then need to also purchase a decent external pre-amp another $50+. Caught between a rock and a hard place. Still deciding.